Andrew Donohue

Andrew Donohue, inspired by a high school teacher discussing Thornton Wilder’s classic “Our Town,” was sure he wanted to be a writer. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and started his career writing for the San Diego Business Journal. Later, while working for the San Diego Daily Transcript, he broke stories questioning the city’s handling of pension funds; the FBI and SEC investigated and criminal charges were filed. He later spent a year as director of communication at ILISA Instituto de Idiomas in Costa Rica. He was still looking for challenges. He got more than he expected when he started reporting for voiceofsandiego.org in 2005. After the departure of several editors, the organization was near collapse. Donohue and a friend offered a plan to take over – and the board accepted. In the years since, voiceofsandiego.org has won national reporting awards, forged a partnership with the local NBC station and become a model nonprofit news organization.

The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford foster journalistic innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Each year, we give twenty outstanding individuals from around the world the resources to pursue and test their ideas for improving the quality of news and information reaching the public.